The Frightful Finitude of Halloween Costumery

The Frightful Finitude of Halloween Costumery

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Because cats, in actuality, are not very slutty at all.

October 31, 2014

The celebration of All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, gains a full head of crazy steam as we start pulling into autumn and jack-o’-lanterns start gaily festooning everything that stands still long enough to be festooned.

With adults spending $1.2 billion on costumes for themselves last year, and about $1 billion on costumes for kids, according to the National Retail Foundation, it seems we’ve gone all in on “thumbing our noses at death” with a whole lot of “good clean fun.” But we’ve also gone all in on an irksome profusion of “sexy” costumery.

Sexy cats, sexy rats, sexy secretaries, sexy meter maids, sexy sexies and on and dizzyingly on. It’s almost OK that this holiday has become a fertility rite for adults, but it certainly seems like it should come with some of age of consent ruling for kids and their costumes. Or are we the only ones not so vaguely discomfited by 6-year-old chambermaids?

Yes, yes … cranky is on the phone and wants its old man back — we got that. But still … take a good gander at the sexy fright, shock and awe substituting for scares these days … we dare you.